Daily Thread: simple questions, comments that don’t need their own posts, and first time posters go here (January 25, 2024)

30 comments

1. can someone help me decipher the meaning of of the text below? I understand the words and grammar but I am really struggling to see the true esssence of what the character is trying to say here.

   > ここにあるのはゼロじゃなくて、育っていない一なんだと感じることができた。ゼロはどれだけ掛けても一にはならない。
   > ゼロと一の間には無限にも似た距離がある。
   > 通行人や背景の一部としてゼロで終わってしまうことが多い中、大げさかもしれないけど、僕と綿矢先輩の間には一があった。
   > 僕はその一を大事にした。大事にしたいと願った

   I am guessing that he is talking about relationships but I don’t get what he means by ‘the distance is infinite between 1 and 0 and by
   通行人や背景の一部としてゼロで終わってしまうことが多い中 “things there are many times between passageways where things as apart of backdrop will end at zero

   He is speaking metaphorically and figuratively?

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3. Does anyone know if there is an add-on for anki that adds a “Do not confuse with” disclaimer to cards like there is on jpdb?

4. Hi, I’m going through this RTK anki deck as I’m learning Kanji, and each card is tagged with the JLPT and Jouyou. I understand JLPT level, and I assume Jouyou is the grade at which the character is taught? Is that correct? Does that make Jouyou_JH junior high? The numbers seem to range from 1 to 6. Please see screenshot for details. Thanks!

   https://imgur.com/a/OUqLZZO

5. Motivation in Japanese is やる気, right? But since やる is the informal counterpart of する, could you say する気?

6. can someone explain to me the syllabus of ちょうちょ in my mind it’s Cho u Cho but it’s just chöcho ?

7. I encountered this song title “愛包ダンスホール” which romanizes to “aipai dancehall”, the artist even sings it like that. I can’t seem to find the meaning or reading for that second character that turns it into “pai”. Can someone please enlighten me on this?

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9. What is the difference betweenのだろうか and のだろう in the following sentence

   それは、どういう意味なんだろう。
   僕の好意はお遊びだと思っているのだろうか。ファッションのように相手のことを好きになっていると、そう思われてしまっているのだろうか. 何よりも、その条件を受け入れなかったらどうなるのだろう。

   Normally, both のだろうか and のだろうwould translate to something to close to “I wonder” and express a feeling of “concern””, so there seems to be some degree of overlap in usage and interchangeability. Here some random examples.

   1. 人前で泣いたことのないAさんが泣いたらしい。本当に悔しかったのだろう。

   2. うちの息子は遊んでばかりいるが、大学を卒業できるのだろうか
   In both of these examples, the speaker feels some concern or worry.

   In the passage that I posted above, the writer purposely used both versions in succession, so I am wondering what the difference is in this case? What he is trying to highlight here?

   EDIT: Interestingly, the guest instance of のだろう in the first sentence is not abbreviated while the second instance in the final sentence is. I don’t know if that means anything

10. What’s the difference between 休 and 安? WaniKani says the former is “rest” and the latter is “relax”, but what does that mean? How are they different? And why can both be read as “yasu”?

11. Pls explain the difference between 曲 and 歌 and 音楽.

12. Is there a Toastmasters but for Japanese language? I think I’d be down for once a week giving a speech in Japanese before I try joining a random conversation. Mainly because it’ll help with my particular brand of anxiety. Also I’m tired of baby sentences with my toddler and badly want intelligent adult conversations 😅

13. Is there a way to set up sentence mining on a Chromebook using yomitan’s one-click flashcard creation (just using chromeOS)? I don’t think the google play store anki can connect to yomitan the same way it can on Windows, but I could also be missing something. Any help will make an upcoming flight a lot more productive for me, thank you!

14. Can I use “ちゃった” during a shiatsu massage to work through the pain? Or would I need to use “はかあた” ? ひらがなはがあくせです

15. Hello, I recently tried to post an article about the translation of foreign words using Katakana versus Kanji, but each time I posted it, it got deleted. I looked into the reasons and it might be because I just joined the subreddit. However, I’ve been following this subreddit for a while, and I just realized that I hadn’t actually joined it until now. I believe my post would interest some people. Could you please allow me to post it? Thank you.

16. I’ve been watching a few vlogs from あかね的日本語教室 and I’ve noticed she tends to stretch vowels at the end of sentences but only in conversation. すみませーん。ありがとうございまーす。 お会計お願いしまーす。Is this a normal conversational thing? Feminine? Rare? The people responding don’t always speak the same way back so I’m not sure. Thanks.

17. Is a sentence such as ここに載せようと決めた correct? Or should this type of construct with the volitional be used only when expressing some uncertainty, such as ここに載せようと思った?

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19. I’m very much a beginner and I was wondering if it’s appropriate to say おやすみなさい to the host(ess) at a restaurant or a cashier at a store as your leaving the same way you might say
    “have a good night” in English. If not, is there another word?

20. What are some color names that are less common but still common knowledge in Japanese? Like in English we have turquoise, burgundy, khaki, beige, mustard, camel, tan, olive, mocha, amber, lime, emerald, etc…

    Not sure how to search for this exact question so I’m asking here. I already know the easy ones like 赤、青、緑、黄色、オレンジ、茶色、むらさき、ピンク、黒、白、グレー、金色、銀色.

21. Anyone know how you would say “what’s up my dog?” In Japanese

    I’ve been saying 私の犬は現行？ does this translate well?

    Thanks!

    Side question- is there a Japanese equivalent of referring to friends as my dog in Japanese?

22. Is there an app like Satori Reader but that has children’s books. I was using PIBO but obviously it’s not like Satori Reader haha and am having trouble finding an app similar that has low level books for kids

23. “一時の感情で仲間を払い
    一時の感情で敵の懐に飛び込む”

    (ブリーチというアニメでホロウが言った一護に)

    仲間を払いってどういう意味ですか?

24. How do you try to ask about/rephrase something someone said in Japanese? For example, I wanted to say:
    “By that, do you mean there were too many applicants?”

    Would an accurate translation be: そうということは応募者が多すぎたの？

    If not, how would you express that meaning in Japanese?

25. For those who’s already fluent (or N3-N1 level), do you stop translating Japanese into your native language? I always translate Japanese into my native and I just think that I can’t really learn japanese in that way :// also, I just tend to understand the context more when i’m trying to practice listening skills

26. People who have used the Genki 1 textbook for N5. Do you need both the workbook and the texbook? Just one of them? What do you recommend, if any at all?

27. from a VN:

    兄ちゃんの評判はワシの耳にも入っとるし、そのやる気に満ちた顔は今、ワシの眼にも映っとる

    プロジェクトルミナスやろ、兄ちゃんが手掛けとるアイドル。あの子たちは皆ホンマモンや

    それだけの目ェを持った人間、そうはおらん。天性の金儲けのセンスがあるっちゅうこっちゃ

    そして・・・・・・兄ちゃん。アンタには天脈だけやのうて強い人脈もある！

    This person is complimenting the Producer ( the MC ) for his results.

    Since he speaks in dialect ( I think ) some stuff it’s even harder than usual for me to understand.

    Project Luminous is the name of the Idol Project he’s working for; here what’s he saying?

    – プロジェクトルミナスやろ、兄ちゃんが手掛けとるアイドル。

    Project Luminous are the Idols you are managing?

    – 目ェ found this interesting is it just emphasis on 目?

    – そうはおらん。is おらん like いない?

    – 天脈 couldn’t find the meaning for this.

    – うて強い人脈 what’s うて?

    ​

    later on also he says:

    陰日向で兄ちゃんを支えてくれよる優秀なスタッフ。果報モンやで、ホンマ！

    陰日向　what does this stands for in this context?

28. Hi guys, two quick questions!

    ​

    1. Is there a difference between “Xかどおうか**わかりますか**” and “Xかどうか**知っていますか**”? If so, which is the difference?
    2. Is there a difference between 取る and 持つ in, for example, 財布を取る/持つ?

    TIA!

29. 石川県には三回行ったことがありますよ。
    I can parse and grasp this sentence perfectly.. however I can’t quite wrap my head around the use of こと. I know it nominalizes verbs, but I don’t quite understand how that works. Would anyone mind describing it to me?

30. Hello! I’m reading a children’s book (しろくまくんのたからものさかし).
    The book is entirely in hiragana and I’m very new to the language, having only been seriously studying for about a month at this point.
    Anyway, page 20 of the book reads:「おほしさまもたからものだね！」

    I understand that たからもの = treasure
    and that だね = that’s right

    I’m struggling with the other 2 words in this sentence though. I think おほし can mean “about” or “in general” but I’m not certain.
    Then with さまも I am completely at a loss.